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Hindu group opposes Christian president of Marathi literature festival

Veteran poet N.D. Mahanor on January 9 opened All India Marathi Literature Festival amid tight security in view of threats from right-wing Hindu organizations. The groups had warned Mahanor, a Padma Shri and Sahitya Academy awardee—not to inaugurate the festival as a Christian priest, Father Francis D’Britto, presided over the festival. The priest is a […]

CAA: India’s Church leaders warn against dividing country

India’s leading cardinal has called the country’s controversial Citizen Amendment Act “a cause of great anxiety for all citizens.” Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Bombay and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), made his comments on Jan. 8 at a ceremony in Benaulim, Goa, inaugurating a new extension of the secretariat […]

Anti-citizenship law protests spread across India

Demonstrators clashed with police for a third day in Delhi on Dec. 17 as protests against a divisive citizenship law spread to universities across the country, raising fears of widespread unrest. Rights activists and Christian leaders say the protests began to spread after the federal government led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attempted […]

India’s Eastern rite Church seeks clarification on controversial law

Bishops of India’s eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church have urged the federal government to clarify amendments made to the country’s citizenship law on Jan. 11, a day after the new law came into force. The prelates’ call came during their ongoing Bishops’ Synod, the Church’s top decision-making gathering, at their headquarters in Kochi city in southern Kerala […]

Bishops ask Alencherry to clarify stand to laity

Kochi, Jan 14, 2020: The issue of land deals has come up for discussion during the Synod session of the Syro-Malabar Church now under-way at the Church headquarters in Kochi. Nine bishops of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese raised the issue on January 13 when a suggestion came up that the Synod could admit to the losses incurred […]

China continues ‘war on the soul’ by jailing pastor

China’s ruling Communist Party has fired a warning shot to the fast-growing underground Protestant Churches in the country by jailing Wang Yi, founder of Sichuan province’s Early Rain Covenant Church, for nine years after a secret trial where he had no legal representation. The US State Department has demanded his immediate release. The sentence for […]

China announces new crackdown on religious freedom

China will enforce new restrictions on religious groups, organizations, meetings, and other related events starting on February 1. The country’s state-controlled media announced the new policy on Dec. 30, after Chinese authorities moved to further suppress Catholics in the Archdiocese of Fuzhou who are refusing to join the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. According to […]

Vietnam archdiocese kicks off anniversary year

Hue Archdiocese in central Vietnam has kicked off a year of celebrations marking 170 years as a Catholic Church jurisdiction by honouring Mother Mary and thousands of people martyred in anti-Catholic purges. An estimated 3,000 people attended the opening Mass on Jan. 1 to start the special year at Phu Cam Cathedral in Hue, the […]